Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
La Guardia Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
New York, New York 11371
Friday, September 8, 2006 19:23 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The Airbus A319 was cleared to cross an active runway by a ground controller while an airplane was on short final. An Embraer EMB-170 was stopped 16th in line for takeoff with the parking brake engaged, on a perpendicular taxiway with its tail in close proximity to the taxiway the A319 just entered. While taxiing, the captain of the Airbus realized that the Embraer, which was stopped on the perpendicular taxiway, would be in close proximity on his right side. After crossing the active runway, and while approaching the EMB-170, both the captain and first officer became concerned as to whether the tail of their A319 had actually passed inside the hold short line for the active runway they just crossed. As the A319 approached the EMB-170 the captain slowed his airplane to approximately 2 knots, and taxied well to the left of the centerline. The captain of the A319 then lost sight of the EMB-170 and asked the first officer to "confirm clear of the Embraer." The first officer gave a verbal response along with a "thumbs up." Approximately 2 seconds later the captain asked the first officer "confirm still clear?" and the first officer responded "clear but close." Moments later as the captain was getting ready to ask the first officer for confirmation for a third time, the right wingtip of their airplane made contact with the EMB-170 airplane's right elevator. Sunset had occurred approximately 6 minutes prior and there was no lunar illumination. According to recorded voice data, the ground controller had instructed the A319 to, "keep his speed up" while crossing the runway since he had an airplane on a two mile final and then to join a taxiway which was past the stationary EMB-170. This required the A319 to pass behind it, despite its 111-foot wingspan. At approximately the time that the collision occurred the controller asked the EMB-170 if they could "pull up just a little bit" but, the first officer of the EMB-170 moments later asked over the radio if they had just been struck. A review of the airport layout plan and satellite imagery revealed, that the hold short line was located approximately 245 feet from the shoulder of the runway and the width of the taxiway was 75 feet.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The Airbus first officer's misjudged clearance from the EMB-170. Also causal was the ground controller's decision to issue a taxi clearance for the Airbus to pass behind the EMB-170. A factor to the accident was the light condition.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/8/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1923 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | New York |
| Event State | NEW YORK |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 11371 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | Yes |
| Event Location Latitude | 404638N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0735221W |
| Event Location Airport | La Guardia Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | LGA |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 22 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1851 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LGA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 22 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.04 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 179 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 22993 |
| NTSB Notification Source | EROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 18 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 9 2010 9:46AM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | New York, NY |
Aircraft Involved |
||
|---|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
Aircraft #2 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | C-GJTA | N864RW |
| NTSB Number | NYC06LA222A | NYC06LA222B |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Non-U.S., Commercial | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No | No |
| Damage | Minor | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Airbus Industrie | Embraer |
| Aircraft Model | A319-112 | EMB-170 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1673 | 17000117 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 141090 | 82364 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 145 | 70 |
| Number of Engines | 2 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 1 2006 12:00AM | Sep 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 13215.5 | 2119 |
| ELT Installed | Yes | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No | No |
| ELT Type | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AIR CANADA | Shuttle America |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Montreal | Indianapolis |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- | IN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | CA | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | H9P 1A2 | 46268 |
| Operator is an individual? | No | No |
| Operator Name | -- | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- | -- |
| Operator City | -- | -- |
| Operator State | -- | -- |
| Operator Country | -- | -- |
| Operator Zip code | -- | -- |
| Operator Code | ARNF | UHLA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | International | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | LGA | LGA |
| Departure City | New York | New York |
| Departure State | NY | NY |
| Departure Country | USA | USA |
| Departure Time | 1830 | 1853 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | CYYZ | ORD |
| Destination City | Toronto | Chicago |
| Destination State | -- | IL |
| Destination Country | CA | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Taxi - to takeoff | Taxi - to takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 22 2008 4:09PM | Jan 22 2008 4:09PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MUZD | MUZD |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- | -- |
| Runway Width | -- | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No | No |
| Medical Flight | -- | -- |